Bluewater Wind, the company developing the first large-scale off-shore wind farm in the United States, credits a paper from the University of Delaware for jump starting the initiative. The students measures the wind off Delaware’s shore and discovered that the coastal winds had the potential output of more than 5,200 megawatts — four times the consumption of the entire state.
The wind pattern known as the Mid-Atlantic Bight stretches from North Carolina to Massachusetts. The wind power that could be generated from this off-shore source is estimated at 330,000 megawatts of capacity, more than the mid-Atlantic coast’s energy demand.
In addition the student’s research into the power capacity of Delaware’s shore, the company invested in a detailed geophysical survey of the ocean floor and pulled together detailed simulations of what the off-shore wind farm would look like. The wind farm is now approved by the public and state energy offices, and is undergoing design review and environmental verification.
Read more in this story from the New York Times.
